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In an AI-powered world where computers outperform people in logic and data, do humans still have an edge? We absolutely do, according to Angus Fletcher, author of the new national bestseller Primal Intelligence (Penguin Random House, 2025) and professor and story scientist with Ohio State University’s Project Narrative.
The answer lies in the brain’s untapped powers of imagination, intuition, and emotional resilience. These are qualities computers and AI can’t replicate—and the ones that make leaders truly visionary. Consider creatives and decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Maya Angelou, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and William Shakespeare. Where did they get their extraordinary mental abilities?
In 2021, researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, known for collaborations with NASA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, announced they had an answer. They named it primal intelligence. And they published scientific proof that primal intelligence was impossible for computers—but could be strengthened in humans.
Trained in primal intelligence, adopters saw the future faster. They healed more rapidly from trauma. In life-and-death situations, they made smarter choices. Economic volatility, social change, and technological disruption demand leaders who can imagine possibilities—not just calculate probabilities. With Angus Fletcher and Suraj Hinduja, Managing Director of the Columbus-based annual leadership event RTRX, we explore what primal intelligence is and how its new findings and theories are transforming leadership, innovation, and adaptability in business and nonprofit sectors.
Featuring Angus Fletcher, Professor of Story Science, Department of English, The Ohio State University, and Author, “Primal Intelligence” (2025), with moderator Suraj Hinduja, Managing Director, RTRX.
After the forum, Angus Fletcher will host a book signing for Primal Intelligence. Copies will be available for purchase in partnership with Gramercy Books of Bexley.
If you would like to dive more deeply into this topic, our friends at the Columbus Metropolitan Library suggest checking out The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI, by Neil Lawrence, 2024.
